Cleopatra

Cleopatra VIII Thea Philopator was born in 69 BC and was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies spoke Greek and refused to speak Egyptian, yet Cleopatra learned many languages including Egyptian despite this and represented herself as a reincarnation of Isis, the goddess of health, marriage and wisdom. She was the last active Pharoah of Ptolemaic Egypt.

She was born to Ptolemy XII and an unknown mother. Her older sister was Berenice IV Epiphaneia, her younger sister was Arsinoe IV and her younger brothers were Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Ptolemy XIV. During her childhood, her father was forced into exile and she accompanied him. Berenice attempted to send an embassy to Rome in advocacy of her claim but Ptolemy XII had them killed as she had been opposing his reinstatement.

High ranking Roman officials planned to put Ptolemy XII back in the throne. Though it was against Roman law, the governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius, was convinced to invade Egypt to this end. During the invasion, a young Mark Anthony met and fell in love with the then 14-year-old Cleopatra. Once reinstated, Cleopatra’s father had Berenice and her supporters executed.

Ptolemy XII made Cleopatra a regent during his reign, and when he died in 51 BC, he left Cleopatra with a huge mess to clean up. There was a famine caused by drought, the Roman soldiers left behind after Ptolemy XII’s reinstatement that had been allowed to harass people in Alexandria under his rule, and the 17.5 million drachmas owed to the Roman Republic.

Not long after assuming the throne, Cleopatra rejected her younger brother as her co-ruler. It is possible that she married him, as according to Egyptian customs at the time, though there is no official proof of this. Ptolemy XIII eventually managed to gain control of the situation with the help of several powerful allies and forced Cleopatra to flee with her younger sister in 49 BC.

In Roman Syria, Cleopatra gathered supporters to launch an invasion of Egypt, but when she arrived with her forces she was met with her brother’s army so she set up camp outside a city in the eastern Nile Delta. Following the ambush and murder of the Roman general Pompey by Ptolemy XIII, Julius Caesar demanded that they stop their fight and make up with each other.

Despite Caesar’s command, Ptolemy XIII came to the Royal Palace at Alexandria with his army. Cleopatra visited Caesar without her brother’s knowledge, having caught wind of his penchant for having extramarital relations with royal women, and beguiled him with her beauty and wit.

When Ptolemy XIII found out his sister was in the palace he tried to incite a riot within the city but was arrested by Caesar. The pair were then brought to the assembly of Alexandria, where it was revealed that their father had left a will stating that they were his joint-heirs.

Caesar tried to get the siblings to agree to respect their father’s final wishes, but Ptolemy XIII felt that the terms brought forth by Caesar benefitted Cleopatra more than himself so he sent his army to attack both Caesar and his sister. Arsinoe made the decision to join her brother and was made queen. Their attack on Caesar’s palace lasted into the next year, effectively trapping Caesar and Cleopatra until reinforcements came and drove the opposing army out of Alexandria. Arsinoe and Ptolemy XIII retreated to the Nile, where Ptolemy drowned when the boat he tried to escape on capsized. Arsinoe was exiled to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

At some point during this time, Cleopatra became pregnant with Caesar’s child.

Cleopatra became the joint ruler of Egypt with her twelve-year-old brother Ptolemy XIV. The two were married despite their ten year age difference, though Cleopatra still consorted with Caesar and even lived with him. Their son, Caesarion, was born in June 47 BC. Caesar was married to Calpurnia, and so did not publicly acknowledge the child as his own. Cleopatra, however, was adamant that the child was his.

When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Cleopatra hoped that her son would be declared his successor, but it was not to be. Caesar had named his grandnephew Octavian as his direct heir. She had her brother poisoned only a few months later, then had Caesarion take his place.

Towards the end of 42 BC, Mark Antony had taken control of the eastern half of the Roman Republic. By the start of 41 BC, he had made his base in Anatolia and requested Cleopatra’s presence under the pretence of clearing up a military misunderstanding, but it is more likely that he wanted to form a romantic attachment to her. Cleopatra hosted Antony and some of his men on the ship she sailed to Anatolia in, and within two days of being together, she managed to convince Antony to have Arsinoe executed.

Before heading home, Cleopatra invited Antony to visit Alexandria that year. She continued to pamper him with palace lifestyle and chose him as the ideal father for her future children. Their relationship seemed to be beneficial to both of them; Antony returned Ptolemaic lands that had been taken from her family by Rome, and Cleopatra supplied him with 200 ships when he had to fight the Parthian Empire in Syria. This battle initiated a series of events that took Antony away for around three years, during which time Cleopatra gave birth to twins. She named the boy Alexander Helios and the girl Cleopatra Selene II. Unlike Caesar, Antony publicly acknowledged the legitimacy of these children despite his marriage to Fulvia.

Mark Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra became strained when he married Octavia the Younger and fathered two children with her. Despite this, he summoned her to him to discuss important military matters in which he required her support, and she brought their three-year-old children to him. This was the first time he had met them.

Cleopatra’s kingdom was greatly increased to secure Antony’s rule of the east, though it was still administered by the Roman government. The new territories fortified her lands and caused her to have two dates on her Ptolemaic coins as a symbol of this new era of her reign.

By 36 BC, Cleopatra was once again pregnant by Antony. Their second son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, was born that summer.

At an event in Alexandria, Cleopatra pronounced herself the Queen of Kings while dressed as Isis. She named Caesarion the King of Kings and gave Alexander Helios Armenia, Media and Parthia to rule. Cleopatra Selene II was given Crete and Cyrene, while Ptolemy Philadelphos was given Syria and Cilicia. It is possible that Antony and Cleopatra became married at this time.

Antony was fighting his rival Octavian by 34 BC. The war was fought with heavy propaganda, and both sides spread many false stories about the other. Octavian’s campaign spread lies that created a new perspective of Cleopatra that still prevails today. One of the most widely spread lies at the time was that Cleopatra had used witchcraft to brainwash Antony into following her.

The men’s rivalry became violent in 32 BC. Cleopatra supplied Antony with funds, 200 ships and insisted on accompanying him to the battlefield in Greece. Her decision to be involved in the battle caused many Roman soldiers to desert their posts. During this time she also convinced Antony to send his wife divorce papers.

By 31 BC, Rome had declared war on Cleopatra due to her aiding Antony. Octavian had a smaller fleet than Antony and Cleopatra, but it had far superior training. That spring, Antony and Cleopatra moved to Actium.

Various kings supported Antony and Cleopatra’s campaign, though they lost the support of Malichus I and an earthquake in Judea meant that Cleopatra’s former ally and longtime rival Herod did not turn up to support them. Several fights between their navy and Octavian’s occurred during the summer, most of which Antony and Cleopatra lost, and many more of their allies and soldiers defected to join the opposing force. Though they were at a distinct disadvantage at sea, Cleopatra was adamant to keep fighting them there as it kept Octavian away from Egypt.

On September 2nd 31 BC, the navies clashed at the Battle of Actium. Cleopatra commanded 60 ships from her flagship the Antonias. Antony had insisted that all the ships had sails on them so they could break a blockade, or in case they needed to retreat or advance on Octavian’s fleet. Cleopatra used this to her advantage by moving quickly through the battle and heading back to the Peloponnese.

Antony and Cleopatra ended up fleeing the battle together, though it continued without them until the morning of the next day. Many more of their troops and allies defected following the battle.

The couple parted ways when they arrived back in Egypt. Cleopatra went to Alexandria in an attempt to pass off the Battle of Actium as a success, while Antony went to gain more supporters in Cyrene, in which he was unsuccessful. Cleopatra decided to leave Egypt under her son’s rule and sail to a faraway country to recover from her losses, but Malichus I burned down her ships as revenge for the losses he suffered at her hands when they had been allies, so she had to stay.

Cleopatra sent a messenger to Octavian to ask that he let Antony live in Egypt as an exile and that her sons and daughter would be able to inherit her throne in exchange for large sums of money. She received no reply until she threatened to burn herself and all her treasure, but was told by Octavian’s representative that she should kill Antony if she wished to live. Antony had them flogged and sent back. There was no agreement.

By 30 BC the two sides still had not successfully negotiated a peace treaty, so Octavian invaded Egypt. Herod, who had aligned himself with Octavian, supported the invasion with supplies and soldiers. Octavian’s army quickly swept towards Alexandria, causing Antony’s forces to surrender. As Octavian advanced closer to Alexandria, Cleopatra hid in a tomb and sent a message to Antony saying she had killed herself. Antony’s grief caused him to end his own life by stabbing himself in the stomach, and he was brought dying to Cleopatra, who had not committed suicide at that point.

Gaius Proculeius, one of Octavian’s allies, managed to get into Cleopatra’s tomb before she could burn it to the ground while still inside it. He allowed Cleopatra to properly prepare and bury Antony’s body before taking her to Octavian at the palace, which he had taken and held her three youngest children hostage.

When Cleopatra found out that Octavian planned to take herself and her family to Rome as evidence of his success, she sent her son Caesarion away and planned her suicide. In August 30 BC, she and two of her maids took their own lives. Historians argue over how exactly they did this, though the popular belief is that it was suicide by asp bite. Although he was angry at Cleopatra’s death, Octavian allowed her to be buried in her tomb next to Mark Antony.

Caesarion returned to his home to assume the throne with the understanding that Octavian would allow him to live and rule. He was the king of Egypt for eighteen days before Octavian had him executed. After his death, Egypt became a province of the recently established Roman Empire.

_{Disclaimer: All of this information comes from my own research and knowledge, so if I have missed anything out or got something wrong please let me know and I’ll try my best to fix it. Thank you!}

Eva Perón

María Eva Duarte de Perón was born on the 7th of May 1919. She was the second wife of the 20th president of Argentina, Juan Perón. She was nicknamed Evita by the Argentine public and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952.

Eva was the youngest of five children. Her father, Juan Duarte, was much more wealthy than her mother, Juana Imbargruen. Duarte already had a wife and family, and when Eva was one year old he moved back in with his legal family, forcing Eva and her family to move to the poorest area of Junín – Los Toldos. To provide for her children, Imbargruen sewed her neighbours’ clothes, but the family was judged due to Duarte’s abandonment and the illegitimate status of the children.

When Duarte died, Imbargruen and her children tried to enter the funeral, but this caused a scene at the church entrance. They were allowed to enter for a short amount of time but were then forced to leave. All Duarte left the Imbargruen family was a document stating that the children were his, allowing them to use his surname.

Soon after this, Imbargruen moved her family into a one-bedroom flat in Junín. To pay for the rent, Juana and her daughters worked as cooks in the houses of local estates.

With Eva’s older brother’s money, the family eventually moved into a larger house, which they later turned into a boarding house. At this time, Eva often performed in local plays or concerts. Juana wanted Eva to marry a local bachelor, but she wanted to become an actress.

When she was 15, she left her home for Buenos Aires to become an actress. There is a debate between historians as to whether she ran away with a famous musician, (a relationship that ended almost as quickly as it began), or whether it was her mother that took her to stay with family friends so she could audition for roles, as reported by her sisters. Either way, she remained in the city, where she bleached her dark hair blonde – an iconic look which she kept for the rest of her life.

Her first obstacle in Buenos Aires was her lack of connections. She took a few modelling jobs and toured with a theatre company, but her first regular role was as a radio star on a programme called Muy Bien. Later that same year, she signed a five-year contract that guaranteed her a role in a popular radio historical drama called ‘Great Women of History‘. She eventually went on to co-own the company and became one of the highest-paid radio actresses in Argentina.

Eva also had a brief career as a film actress but was not largely successful in that endeavour.

In 1943 she began her political career as she co-founded the Argentine Radio Syndicate (ARA).

On the 22nd of January 1944, she met Colonel Juan Perón at a benefit at the Luna Park Stadium for victims of a recent San Juan earthquake. A few months later, broadcast performers formed a union, and Eva was selected as its president. Soon after, she began a programme that dramatised the achievements of Juan Perón and regularly featured his speeches. To the public, she appeared as a relatable and ordinary woman who wanted people to see Perón the way she did.

Eva married Juan Perón the following year in a civil ceremony. He became President in 1946, making Eva the First Lady.

Eva began her ‘Rainbow Tour’ of Europe in 1947, during which she met with numerous heads of state and people of importance. She began her trip in Spain, where she received a warm welcome and received the Order of Isabella the Catholic – the highest honour given by the Spanish government. She then travelled to Rome, where her presence was regarded somewhat less enthusiastically.

France was her next destination, where she met with Charles de Gaulle and was happily received. Here she heard that King George VI would not receive her when she arrived in Britain and that her presence would not be viewed as a state visit, so she cancelled that part of her trip – citing fatigue as her excuse.

Her time in Switzerland was not great. People threw stones and tomatoes at her during two separate events, causing her to end her European tour and head home. In Argentina, people who opposed her husband thought that the real reason she took the trip was to hide that she had gone to deposit money into a bank account in Switzerland, though historians have dismissed this as unlikely.

The Argentinian charity organisation the Sociedad de Beneficencia was run by a group of upper-class women and had been in charge of most of the charity work around Buenos Aires before Perón became President. During this time, it was funded by the government and had a tradition of selecting the First Lady as its president. When Eva was First Lady, however, they did not ask her to assume this role – due to her acting career, poor upbringing and lack of education. Historians debate as to whether Eva had her husband remove the organisation’s funding or not as punishment for the insult, but the money that had previously supported the Sociedad was instead given to the Eva Perón Foundation, which she had started with her own money.

In just a few years, Eva’s foundation had an excess of over 3 billion pesos and employed over 14,000 people. The charity provided essential goods (shoes, sewing machines, etc.) to those in need and also constructed hospitals, homes, provided scholarships, and even built functional communities like Ciudad Evita, which is still around today. Eva supervised every detail of the organisation, and for the first time in Argentina’s history, there was no healthcare inequality in the country.

It was her charity work that led people to begin considering Eva as a saint-like figure. She spent many hours meeting with the poor that needed help from the Eva Perón Foundation and was even seen kissing someone who had syphilis and touching someone with leprosy. Argentina at the time was a mostly Catholic country, so these acts transformed her into an idol in the eyes of the Argentinian people. Towards the end of her life, Eva was working as much as 22 hours a day for her organisation as she became more and more aggrieved at the poverty that existed in her country.

Before 1947, women in Argentina did not have the right to vote. Eva supported women’s suffrage – though she did not think of herself as a feminist – it was not in her power to grant enfranchisement. A woman’s political equality bill was passed in September 1947, and after Perón signed the law he handed it to his wife, symbolising that it was hers.

Two years later, Eva established the Women’s Peronist Party, which was the first large-scale female political party in Argentina. It gained 500,000 members in two years and had 3,600 headquarters throughout the nation. Many women who previously had no interest in politics became actively involved in the political process because of Eva, and the sheer size of the party greatly contributed to her husband gaining 63% of the vote in the 1951 presidential election.

Eva ran for Vice President of Argentina in 1951 and received a huge amount of support from pro-Perónist parties, and low-income and working-class Argentinians. This was, however, opposed by the military and the middle/upper-class members of society. This opposition, accompanied by her deteriorating health, caused her to withdraw her candidacy.

She died of cervical cancer in 1952, aged 33. Shortly before her death, she was named ‘the Spiritual Leader of the nation’ by the Argentine Congress. Eva was given a state funeral, which was commonly only for heads of state. 

_{Disclaimer: All of this information comes from my own research and knowledge, so if I have missed anything out or got something wrong please let me know and I’ll try my best to fix it. Thank you!}